Palomine

Palomine was released on 2 November 1992 by Brinkman Records in the Benelux and by the 4AD subsidiary label Guernica in the United Kingdom.^[3][4] Upon its release, the album charted at number 43 in the Netherlands.^[5] In the United States, it was issued by Matador Records on 7 January 1993.^[3][6] Three singles were released from Palomine: "Tom Boy" and "Palomine" in 1992,^[7] the second of which reached number 122 on the UK Singles Chart,^[8] and "Kid's Allright" in 1993.^[7]

On 7 July 2023, Matador reissued Palomine on vinyl to celebrate the album's 30th anniversary.^[9] In the Benelux, it was also reissued on CD by Bettie Serveert's own Palomine Records label, bundled with an eleven-song bonus disc titled The Palomine Demos that features demos recorded from 1991 to 1992.^[10][11] The reissue reached a new peak of number 30 in the Netherlands,^[5] while also reaching number 177 on the Belgian Flanders albums chart.^[12]

More information Review scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[13]
CD Review	[14]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[2]
NME	6/10[15]
PopMatters	8/10[16]
Q	[17]
Rolling Stone	[18]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[19]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	8/10[20]
Uncut	8/10[21]

Close

Q reviewer Martin Aston commented that Palomine "is produced with a bar band intimacy that amplifies the sparse, roaming spaces at the heart of the music", and that "Carol van Dijk has a vibrant, husky voice, capable of plaintive, precocious passion and gutsy ferverishness".^[17] Stephanie Zacharek, writing for CD Review, said that as a vocalist, van Dijk "taps into" the subtleties of her "austere" lyrics and "brings home, in words, the sorts of things that are otherwise best communicated by a wry smile or the flutter of eyelashes."^[14] Spin's Jim Greer stated that the album juxtaposes "Van Dijk's suspiciously accurate Long Island-inflected langour with the slow, intense sloppiness of the band to form one glorious mess of sound", while also finding Bettie Serveert's songwriting remarkably mature for an indie rock band.^[1] In The New York Times, Jon Pareles wrote that the band's songs "echo the clear-cut melodies and verbal directness of Neil Young and the garage-rock scruffiness of his collegiate-rock heirs, like Dinosaur Jr."^[22]

Palomine placed at number 15 in The Village Voice's 1993 year-end Pazz & Jop critics' poll.^[23] Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, awarded it a "two-star honorable mention" and remarked, "by the time the tunes grow on you, you'll be wondering why the songs never get where they're going".^[24]

Notes

• "Brain-Tag" is omitted from the LP edition of the album. The UK LP edition, released by Guernica, instead included a bonus 7" disc featuring "Brain-Tag" on side one and "Get the Bird" and "Smile" on side two.^[4][25]

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.^[26]

Bettie Serveert

• Herman Bunskoeke – bass
• Carol van Dijk – guitar, vocals
• Berend Dubbe – drums
• Peter Visser – guitar

Production

• Bettie Serveert – production
• Berend Dubbe – mixing
• Frans Hagenaars – production, mixing
• Edwin "Hank" Heath – production, mixing
• The Masters – mastering

Design

• Diederik van der Donk – photography
• Roel Siebrand – cover design